Here's a little tip that can make this a bit easier. With the door closed, push a wooden shim (they're usually in the shape of wedge) under the bottom of the door at the edge with the striker until it's just snug. This takes the weight of the door off the top two hinges. Now pop the top two hinge pins like you do in the video. Use your hammer to drive the shim further under the door, lifting the striker edge of the door. Lift it just enough to enlarge the gap at the top where it's sticking and close the gap on the hinge edge. This will cause the knuckles (attached to door) to be off by exactly the amount you need to bend them. Bend the knuckles like you show in the video until they line up, and -- with the shim still in place -- you should be able to slide the pins back in with no resistance. Pull the shim, and the door should be perfectly aligned. You used the shim to move the knuckles so that they showed you exactly how much they need to be bent. No guesswork needed!
Thank you for your door knowledge we have had a sticking door for the past 15 years .After watching your video the door now open and closes without sticking. You are awesome thank you
same here and a typical contractor would charge $100 to fix this, thanks for the videos, not even my carpenter repair book had this solution and I paid $35 for the Home Improvement 1-2-3 book from Home Depot!
As a builder who has installed/fixed THOUSANDS of doors, this is one of the best (not only) methods to fix this problem, particularly w painted over hinges like those. People, PLEASE do not paint the hinges, it does nothing but make life harder.
Let me share a little story. I hired some “contractors” to install a Prehung door. They tore a hole in the side of my house and tried to put the new one in but in the process slightly bent the frame. I promptly fired them and figured out how to seat the frame but the door was now rubbing like this one. We were at wits end when I stumbled on this gem of a video. If I could hug this guy I would. I wasnt able to shut the door without severe effort but thanks to this amazing guy I was able to seat it and save the day. This 6:05 minute video saved the day for me. You my man are a gift to earth and keep being awesome.
I searched for many videos on this, they explained one thousand methods on fixing doors But when it comes to fixing hinges, they do it very quickly, almost without explanation This was the most complete video on hinge “mechanics” that I’ve seen, just what I was looking for, thank you!
Oh, man, you’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve had a door with this problem for more years than I care to admit. Watched this video and fixed the door in 3 minutes. Great video, thanks!
After years of a sagging front door(like 5+) and replacing door knobs broken by a sticking door, this simple solution was a home run fix. Thanks so much.
Wish I had found this video 3 weeks ago. I trimmed the door down on a tablesaw after using longer screws for the hinge into the door jam side didn't quite get it. Great video.
This works great, I did have to use vice-grips as the regular adjustable wrench would slip. In only a few minutes, the door opens and shuts and the door lock mechanism aligns/engages with the jamb portion like it should. Thanks for posting !
Thanks man, l moved into a house with this door issue on the front door. Been dealing with having to lift the door up by the handle, to get it to close for months. Procrastinated on fixing it because I thought It involved expertise beyond my abilities..lol....it took 5 minutes to fix using your solution. Thank You!
I have a door my kids used to hang on and swing when they were really young and I was not looking. I have put longer screws and tightened them up but now I can address it quickly and easily. Thank you. Great information and well presented.
This was so helpful!! I keep asking my husband to fix TWO of our doors doing this in our home and he still hasn’t so I’m about to blow his mind “just knowing” how to fix this by myself 😉😂
I’ve learned if you want something done (especially if you want it done right, not rigged up) you’re better off to just do it yourself. My husband has plenty of good qualities, unfortunately fixing things is not one of them 🤷🏻♀️
I encounter this a lot. I am a painter and to do the best work is to remove all hardware including hinges and door knobs, many times they want to fix rubbing against door jam as something preexistent, I always used a wedge or scraping the door jam to make up for that difference and adjusting the hinges until finding the correct gap. Your technique is going to save me hours of labor!!! Thank you so much man!!
Glad it was helpful! Just keep in mind that if the door is "swollen" due to moister/humidity, or the whole house is sagging with a structural problem, this technique will not work.
YourSelf I understand. When door is swollen due to humidity and it touches all along the door jam the best is to shave a little on the edge of the door. I would say this would be an extreme case. Thank you for your tip.
Bro i freaking love you thank you i am so stressed out after fighting with my kitchen door and making multiple holes trying to pull it in on the top side and your video freaking solved it in 3 minutes thanks again!!!
Thank you. This video helped me with my sagging front door which was reaching the point that it was beginning an entrapment hazard to my wife and children. It's been quite stiff for years, and that had been good for keeping my young son from getting out, but with all the rain and extra humidity of late, the wooden door was swelling and getting increasingly difficult to open.
Thank you for sharing, sir. Such a simple fix! My front door has been slightly off since we bought our house 9 years ago and driving me nuts. The slight sag made locking / unlocking the door more difficult than it should be. 2 minutes of your method and it is closing better than ever! Thank you!
hey @Craigmo900 , same issue, I tried putting longer screws int he hinges but didn't help, the door locking is being difficult for us and has been for a while, Do you have any tips in addition to the video, will try this week.
Very good advice. I've done this as well as adding cardboard shims and shaving the door. The toughest was having to jack up the wall to put things back in alignment. To make your tip even better would be to apply white grease or petroleum jelly to the hinge pin before reinstalling. Thanks again.
Pretty good explanation. He talked necessary but no nonsense extra talk. Whenever he talked, no letters appeared so that view can see clearly what he demonstrated. Very good. I like it
Very good video! The cylindrical shaped segments of the hinge barrel are often called "knuckles" like the knuckles of fingers, as you might imagine a closed fist holding the hinge pin. I have been in the business of construction and handyman fixing for 30 years and have watched MANY youtube videos. I just watched 8 of your videos and they are among the very best and deserve more views. Maybe team with a more popular youtuber for shoutouts? Good luck :)
Thanks for the video. i have had 2 doors with this issue and the first one i had to trim the frame, after watching your video i replaced the hindge and now its fixed.
@Rebecca Lopez this procedure works well for sagging doors, not sagging door frames. So if your old house and door frames have shifted, this fix may not work. You probably better off shaving the door instead.
peter d This generally resolves the issue for me. The standard Inch -/+ screws that come with the hardware are no where nearly enough to properly retain them over the years... why builders don’t automatically throw those tiny useless hinge screws away and run some 2 1/2 3 inch screws in them is absolutely beyond me.... well not reallyyyy beyond me.... time is money and having to walk away from your current task, god forbid *eye roll, would take as much time as the morning BS’ing and coffee finishing would....
Thank you, I ended up having to mess around with the loops on my top and middle hinge, plus adjust the latch catch thing in the frame but my door is now smooth as butter
Excellent video. I'll try this technique on the door to my garage. I only wish I had seen this earlier as I had another door that this would have worked on and saved me a lot of time sanding the top of the door in order to get it to close. Well done!
Thank you Mr. / Sir. who ever your name, this vid is simple enough for me to understand, actually my door is a bit different on its hinges system but I got the point from your video. its now fix.
Hey there, I just wanted to say thanks for the video. I was struggling with one door. Changed the door hinges and it got worst. Then I thought of looking in youtube, found your video and aaaaa! I just finished fixing it. Merci
We moved into our house in 2019 and the previous owners did not take care of anything. Needless to say we have had our hands full with changes and fixes. One thing was the garage door leading into the house. We had to slam it hard as the top half was rubbing a lot. I just tried this and decided to check the door after doing only the top loop/knuckle... Low and behold it closes like normal now! I was afraid it would need to be shifted a decent amount and then the electronic deadbolt would not lock properly but luckily that was not the case. Thanks a lot man! Almost 3 years of annoyance fixed in about 15min
I loved it was slow and easy to follow along plus i made me smile love the way he talked loops lol also I'm just joking with ya, you had 2 tools a hammer too ahahha loved the video will watch again before I try and fix mine..thanks
Amen brother I'm dealing with that now just went to work as a maintenance man for a big complex and man the things I'm dealing with are just stupid people that did not know what they were doing
Keith Hilderbran I feel ya. You know what’s even worse than people who don’t know what they’re doing? People who say “Screw it, it’s not mine. Who cares.” GodSpeed and keep up the good work! 👍
The house we've just purchased has a coat over literally everything. Taps, shower heads, tiles and all of the above. Layers upon layers of caked on paint. 👌
I skipped through the video the first time. Took a full watching for me to figure out that I was having so much difficulty because I was holding the camera in my other hand :D Thanks for the video; very helpful.
Thanks for mentioning that you bend the "loops that belong to the door". Because the hinges on my sagging bedroom door are reverse compared to your door. The loops (or knuckles) of each hinge on my door that "belong to the door" are located at the top, bottom and middle of each hinge. So, there are three of them that need to be bent. This mean I would have to bend three knuckles towards the door knob. Or, alternatively, bend the hinge knuckles attached to the jam side away from the door knob if there is room for the crescent wrench. Right? From Minneapolis, U.S.A.
Yes, your assessment is correct. If you have enough space, try to bend the 2 knuckles towards the door-jamb to cause less stress to the hinge than bending the 3 knuckles towards the door.
Hi i love you, you saved me hours of work I couldn’t figure it out. I tried taking out screws, realigning the door, changing hinges, thank you so much for this little door hack thank you thank you thank you thank you thank
Close the gap in the bottom hinge and/or open the gap in the top hinge. If you only adjust the top or bottom hinge you might need to do the middle hinge about half the amount to keep everything working well. Having said that it's a bit of trial and error. GL.
I have the same problem with a door at my house… I was ready to shave the door with a plane….. this is such a better remedy….!!! Thanks for the tips….!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
So that's what's wrong with my door. My door shut perfectly, then I took it off to do some work. When I hung it back on it hit the door jamb and was hard to close. Thanks for the tip! I'll fix this tonight! John.
Woohoo this worked thank you thank you! I used vicegrips instead of a wrench, and an allen wrench to knock up the pins, to not mess up my screwdriver tip. And I didn't need to mess with the middle hinge. Seems all fixed now 🙌